Edgartown shellfishermen are one step closer to farming in a new spot in Nantucket Sound, following an approval from the selectmen on Monday. The site, called the middle flats, is a 35-acre area located about a mile north of Eel Pond.
The state has issued new tougher regulations to guard against outbreaks of a shellfish bacteria known as Vibrio that closed Katama Bay to oyster harvesting for three weeks last fall.
Oyster growers and state officials meet this morning to discuss a state plan to control the bacteria Vp which plagued commercial growers in the region last year, including on the Vineyard. The public meeting is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre.
Brothers Greg and Dan Martino plan to grow 50,000 oysters per year in bottom cages off of Eastville Beach in Oak Bluffs as early as next spring. Oak Bluffs selectmen gave preliminary approval as long as the Martino brothers' equipment does not prevent boats from passing through the area.
Roy Scheffer and his son Jeremy Scheffer will put two small farms to keep cages of oysters in the area known as middle flats. Father and son already grow oysters in Katama Bay.
The Nature Conservancy would like to thank our partners in this past year’s oyster restoration project in the Tisbury Great Pond, straddling the Chilmark/West Tisbury town line at the mouth of Town Cove.